[manchester-coworking] An idea for more structured co-working

[Paul Robinson]

I've been thinking about how to improve an occasional day of co-working.

In the long term, we might want to look at more permanent space, but  
I'm thinking about how to increase collaboration and co-operation in a  
very 'easy' way, with perhaps one day a month like the one we just  
ran, but borrowing some ideas from what we discussed and what we've  
seen work. Right now I'm not talking about finding somewhere for us to  
work full-time, but stepping up the benefits of co-working gently.

How about this: we grab a space (MDDA is fine) one day a month.  
BarCamp style, people are encouraged to turn up with an idea of a  
project they need help with, or an idea they want to make happen (but  
realise on their own they can't do), or an area they need some  
expertise in. Examples: I really need some help with SEO and where to  
start with learning about it; I've just thought of a great service we  
could build together...; The business plan for this project I'm  
working on needs some creative input

There could be up to say, 8 x 45-minute sessions in one day. If there  
are more than 8 projects, the 8 that are going to get the most people  
wanting to work on them go up on the board. The smaller groups can  
hijack an adjacent space.

We then use three spaces. The small office (near the door at MDDA) is  
used for the eight sessions.

The large room we worked in is a quiet work area where people can get  
work done and are able to concentrate (perhaps because they've got  
code to fix, etc.)

The coffee area is for informal chats, or for those people working who  
don't mind yacking whilst they do it.

We could do it with just two spaces if people don't mind working on  
their own stuff in the coffee area and we use the main room as a  
meeting space

It means in one day you get up to 8 groups of people working on  
things, people can crack on with their own stuff regardless, and we  
get the social aspect (almost) of a BarCamp.

It's informal, structured, productive, useful and helps us achieve  
some of the goals of co-working without the expense.

Those of us who want more permanent space or want to work with each  
more often can organise that ourselves, but this gives us a kind of  
recruitment agent that anybody can sign up to and get involved in, and  
it's up to them to take it on to the next stage.

It's not Co-Working, it's not BarCamp. It's BarWork! :-) Yes, we need  
a better name...

Thoughts?

--
Paul Robinson

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